Most of us know how to mark the beginning of faith, but struggle to recognize growth afterward. Perhaps maturity is measured less by distance traveled than by faithful direction.

For most of my adult life, I struggled with taking vacation. And by vacation, I don't even mean an extended trip. I mean taking time away at all. Over the last decade, God has been teaching me something I resisted for years. Rest is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

A few years ago, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory warning that loneliness and social isolation had become a public health crisis. Researchers found that prolonged isolation can have health effects comparable to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. That's a startling statistic. But perhaps the more startling reality is that many men don't recognize isolation when they see it.